October 07, 2016

Player Security Tip Of The Day: DEBIT = OK, Credit = Don’t Use

Debit cards can be used in Iowa to buy lottery tickets, but it’s not OK to use a credit card for a lottery purchase in our state.

It’s important to determine which kind of card you’re thinking about using before you go forward with a lottery purchase. Lottery players can use debit cards to purchase lottery products in Iowa. But state law prohibits the use of a credit card to make a lottery purchase.

A debit transaction is always tied to available funds, so as long as the card says DEBIT on the front, it’s OK to use it for a lottery transaction. If it’s a CREDIT card, it’s illegal to use it for the purchase of lottery tickets.

Please bear in mind, however, that some retail locations may have policies that don’t allow the use of debit cards for lottery purchases. That’s similar to store policies that may, for example, not allow personal checks for any type of purchase. Stores can and do develop their own policies about what they’ll allow in their locations, and we understand that.

Comments

Great question, MO. If the card says DEBIT on the front, even if it is run on the credit setting, the money is still coming from available funds, so it is still a DEBIT transaction. A debit card never involves anything other than available funds, meaning cash. We had wondered about this very issue ourselves, so we checked with the network folks who process the transactions. They confirmed that DEBIT always = available cash.

Hi, Trecey. You've raised a really good point. While it is legal in Iowa for a debit card to be used to buy lottery tickets in Iowa, stores are not required to accept them for that purpose. That's a policy decision made by the business involved. Just as some businesses will not accept personal checks, others prefer to limit debit card transactions to certain products or certain minimum dollar amounts. But you are exactly right in your comment: If you are not satisfied with the service and options available to you as a customer at a particular location, you are always free to do business elsewhere.

The lottery office needs to notify Quicktrip gas station that using a debit card in Iowa to play the lottery is allowed. On two separate occasions, I was denied the use of my debit card, do I left and purchased the tickets at the Casey's with my debit card!

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